Relaxation oscillators in concert: A conceptual framework for late Pleistocene millenial-scale climate variability

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Schulz, M., Timmermann, Axel, Paul, A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: AGU (American Geophysical Union) 2002
• Subjects: North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/702/; https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/702/1/Schulz_et_al-2002-Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/2002GL016144

Using a box model of the North Atlantic Ocean and a parameterization of Heinrich Events, we suggest that self-sustained oscillations of the large-scale oceanic circulation provide a framework to accommodate crucial elements of late Pleistocene climate variability: (i) Dansgaard-Oeschger-style oscillations with varying interstadial length, (ii) synchronization between Dansgaard-Oeschger stadials and Heinrich Events, and (iii) Younger Dryas-type events. The latter result from the restart of the oscillations after a glacial maximum and can be regarded as Dansgaard-Oeschger stadials, overprinted by rapidly changing boundary conditions.